Boston & Maine Diesel Roster (All-Time)

Last revised: September 18, 2026

Boston & Maine dieselized early for a Northeastern road. A GE/Ingersoll-Rand boxcab, 1100, arrived in January 1935. That same month Electro-Motive finished shovel-nose power car 6000 for the Flying Yankee. Alco HH switchers and EMC SCs filled the yards. Wartime FTs took the Fitchburg. E7s took the named trains. GP7s, RS-2s, and RS-3s finished steam on July 23, 1956. Fifty GP9s in McGinnis blue, traded against the FTs, were the Bluebirds. Second-generation power under Alan G. Dustin was EMD: GP38-2s in 1973–74, GP40-2s in 1977.

Maroon and gold with the Minute Man herald was the postwar passenger look. Switchers had been black. After 1956 the freight hoods went blue. Guilford gray with an orange stripe is a later date, on the company page. This roster is the B&M-lettered fleet.

A group of Boston and Maine FTs led by 4204 with a freight through Greenfield Massachusetts September 18 1955

A group of classic Boston & Maine FTs, led by #4204, lead a freight through Greenfield, Massachusetts, on September 18, 1955. Photographer unknown, Rick Burn collection. The FTs went back to La Grange as trade-in on the GP9s.

On this page: At a glance · Boxcab, Yankee, switchers · FTs, F2s, F3s, F7s, E7s · BL2s, Geeps, Alco road-switchers · GP38-2s and GP40-2s · All-time roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Boston & Maine. Mark BM. Company Boston & Maine
First diesels	GE/IR boxcab 1100, January 1935. EMC Flying Yankee power car 6000, February 1935. Alco HH600 demonstrator 1102, September 1934
Last steam	July 23, 1956. See the steam roster
Cab units	FTs 4200A–4223A and matching Bs, 1943–44. F2s and F3s. F7s 4265–4268. E7As 3800–3820; one E8A, 3821. Photo: FT 4204 Greenfield
Geeps	Four BL2s, 1550–1553, 1948. 23 GP7s, 1950–53. 50 GP9s, 1957, against FT trade-in. Six GP18s, 1961
Alco road	RS-2s 1501–1504, 1530–1534. RS-3s 1505–1519 and later numbers through at least 1536
Last new B&M order	GP40-2 300–317, December 1977, order 776025
RDCs	109 Highliners by 1957, largest such fleet. Nearly all remaining passenger work except Montreal by 1958
Paint	Black switchers; maroon and gold Minute Man; McGinnis blue, black, and white Bluebirds from 1956

Serials and builder order numbers follow trainweb.us/emdloco B&M order sheets and the live American-Rails tables. Later numbers sit in the notes. Information compiled September 18, 2026.

1100, 6000, and a yard full of SCs

Alco’s HH600 demonstrator 602 became B&M 1102 in September 1934. The GE/Ingersoll-Rand boxcab 1100 followed in January 1935. EMC serial 532, February 1935, was power car 6000 for the Flying Yankee, a near-sister of Burlington Zephyr 9900, Boston–Bangor with the Maine Central. The train encyclopedia is the Yankee page.

EMC SCs 1103–1108, 1936 and 1938, and SW1s from 1109 in January 1939 through 1132 in 1953, were the standard small switcher. NW2s 1200–1213 and SW9s 1220–1231 filled the heavier yards. Alco S-1s, S-2s, S-3s, S-4s, and six S-5s (860–865, June 1954) ran alongside. Some S-5s were later rebuilt as S-5m 1280–1283. GE 44-tonners 110–119 covered light industrial and branch jobs. Two Plymouths, 100 and 101, were the odd motors on the roster.

FTs on the Fitchburg, E7s on the varnish

Boston and Maine F3A 4228 inside the roundhouse at Somerville Massachusetts February 8 1970

Boston & Maine F3A #4228 rests inside the roundhouse in Somerville, Massachusetts, on February 8, 1970. Roger Puta photo. Twenty-two years after delivery, still on the property.

FTs came in three bites, 1943–44: 4200A–4205A with Bs, 4206A–4211A with Bs, 4212A–4223A with Bs. They were the freight cab units on the Fitchburg until McGinnis sent them back to La Grange as trade-in on fifty GP9s. F2s 4224A–4226A and 4250A–4264A, October 1946 and July 1946, and two F3 A-B sets, 4227–4228, October 1948, filled the gap. F7s were a short program: 4265A–4268A and four Bs, 1949–50. 4268B is preserved by the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society as Jersey Central D.

Passenger cabs were E7As 3800–3820, September 1945 through April 1949, maroon and gold. One E8A, 3821, January 1950, later Missouri Pacific 42. Two Fairbanks-Morse P12-42s, 1–2, December 1957, were power cars for the lightweight Speed Merchant Talgo; they did not last.

Four BL2s, twenty-three GP7s, fifty Bluebirds

Four BL2s, 1550–1553, order E889, July–September 1948, serials 5259–5262, were an EMD experiment that stayed. The type encyclopedia is the BL2 page. GP7s came in four orders, all with steam generators and no dynamic brake: 1555–1560 September 1950, 1561–1562 December 1950, 1563–1571 February–March 1952, 1572–1577 April–May 1953. Alco RS-2s 1501–1504 and 1530–1534, 1949, and RS-3s from 1505, 1954–55, were the other road-switchers. RS-3 1536 was still lettered B&M at Smiths Falls, Ontario, in 1966; the live Alco table stops at 1534.

Fifty GP9s, 1700–1749, orders 7546 and 7549, 1957, arrived in McGinnis blue, black, and white and were soon called Bluebirds. Some later took 1800-series numbers. Six GP18s, 1770–1775, May 1961, became 1750–1755. Budd RDCs—Highliners—reached 109 cars, the largest such fleet in the country. By 1958 they covered nearly all remaining passenger work except the Montreal trains.

Dustin’s Geeps

Boston and Maine GP40-2s 302 and 314 with GP38-2 209 at SK Yard Buffalo New York June 12 1983

Boston & Maine GP40-2s #302 and #314, along with GP38-2 #209, pull into SK Yard in Buffalo, New York, arriving from Binghamton on the Southern Tier line on June 12, 1983. Doug Kroll photo. Eighteen days before Guilford took title.

Alan G. Dustin’s freight revival ordered GP38-2s 201–212, order 73636, December 1973–February 1974. Number 200 wore Bicentennial paint. Eighteen GP40-2s, 300–317, order 776025, December 1977, were the last new Boston & Maine locomotives. Several GP38-2s later went to Kansas City Southern. Guilford took title June 30, 1983. That paint and the Pan Am years are the company page.

All-time roster

Owned and lettered Boston & Maine diesels. One row per builder order batch. Serial and order (EMD order / Alco construction) numbers are their own columns. Later BM numbers and rebuilds sit in the notes. RDCs are cars, not in this table.

Alco

Numbers	Model	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Notes
1102	HH600	Alco	68608	—	9/1934	Built as demonstrator 602. Later 1160. Scrapped 12/1947
1101	HH660	Alco	69082	—	3/1938	Later 1161. Scrapped 1/1959
1162	HH660	Alco	69232	—	12/1939	Scrapped 1/1959
1163–1164	S-1	Alco	70050, 71662	—	7/1944–8/1944
1165	S-1	Alco	72837	—	10/1944
1166–1167	S-1	Alco	75895–75896	—	8/1948
1168–1169	S-1	Alco	76153–76154	—	1/1949
1170–1171	S-1	Alco	76568–76569	—	3/1949
1172	S-1	Alco	76737	—	5/1949
1173–1176	S-3	Alco	78318–78319, 78391–78392	—	9/1950
1177–1188	S-3	Alco	79539–79541, 79767, 79770–79773, 80051–80054	—	2/1952–6/1952	1186 preserved, Hobo Railroad
1260–1262	S-2	Alco	72060–72062	—	5/1944
1263	S-2	Alco	73376	—	6/1945
1264–1265	S-2	Alco	73595–73596	—	7/1945
1266–1273	S-4	Alco	78021–78028	—	8/1950
1274	S-4	Alco	78319	—	9/1950	Rebuilt from S-3 1174
860–865	S-5	Alco	80916–80921	—	6/1954	Some rebuilt S-5m 1280–1283. 864 preserved, Hobo Railroad
1501–1504	RS-2	Alco	76648–76651	—	3/1949
1530–1532	RS-2	Alco	76652–76654	—	3/1949
1533–1534	RS-2	Alco	76975–76976	—	6/1949
1505–1509	RS-3	Alco	80732–80736	—	4/1954–5/1954
1510–1517	RS-3	Alco	80749–80756	—	10/1954
1518–1519	RS-3	Alco	81162–81163	—	4/1955	Later RS-3s ran at least through 1536

Electro-Motive switchers and Geeps

Numbers	Model	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Notes
6000	TA (shovel-nose)	EMC	532	—	2/1935	Flying Yankee power car. Not serial 9932
1103–1105	SC	EMC	614–616	E141	8/1936
1106–1108	SC	EMC	758–760	E204	7/1938
1109–1111	SW1	EMC	912–914	E288	1/1939	1109 preserved, Railroad Museum of New England
1112–1113	SW1	EMD	1457–1458	E430	11/1941
1114–1117	SW1	EMD	3884–3886, 3895	E727	10/1946
1118	SW1	EMD	8321	E1154	4/1949
1119–1132	SW1	EMD	18186–18199	4214	7/1953–8/1953
1200–1201	NW2	EMD	1461–1462	E431	11/1941
1202–1204	NW2	EMD	1933–1935	E535	7/1942
1205–1207	NW2	EMD	3091–3093	E726	9/1946
1208–1209	NW2	EMD	7738–7739	E1153	1/1949
1210–1213	NW2	EMD	7734–7737	E1092	1/1949
1220–1226	SW9	EMD	15748–15754	6338	1/1952
1227–1231	SW9	EMD	18181–18185	—	5/1953
800–807	SW8	EMD	18200–18207	4224	5/1953–6/1953
1550–1553	BL2	EMD	5259–5262	E889	7/1948–9/1948
1555–1560	GP7	EMD	12373–12378	6149	9/1950	Steam generator, no dynamic brake
1561–1562	GP7	EMD	12379–12380	6165	12/1950	Steam generator, no dynamic brake
1563–1571	GP7	EMD	15786–15794	6337	2/1952–3/1952	Steam generator, no dynamic brake
1572–1577	GP7	EMD	18175–18180	5221	4/1953–5/1953	Steam generator, no dynamic brake. 1577 later Springfield Terminal 35
1700–1726	GP9	EMD	23198–23224	7546	2/1957–12/1957	Bluebirds. Some to 1800s
1727–1749	GP9	EMD	23225–23247	7549	4/1957–9/1957	1732 preserved, Railroad Museum of New England
1770–1774	GP18	EMD	26659–26663	7602	5/1961	Later 1750–1754
1775	GP18	EMD	26664	7603	5/1961	Later 1755
201–212	GP38-2	EMD	73636-1 thru 73636-12	73636	12/1973–2/1974	200 Bicentennial. Several to KCS
300–317	GP40-2	EMD	776025-1 thru 776025-18	776025	12/1977	Last new B&M locomotives

EMD cab units

Numbers	Model	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Notes
3800–3815	E7A	EMD	3339–3354	E670A	9/1945, 6/1946	3800–3801 9/1945; 3802–3815 6/1946
3816–3819	E7A	EMD	5623–5626	E927A	7/1948
3820	E7A	EMD	8475	E1172A	4/1949
3821	E8A	EMD	9088	2008A	1/1950	To Missouri Pacific 42
4200A–4205A	FTA	EMD	1916–1921	E523A	9/1943–12/1943	Traded to EMD on GP9s
4200B–4205B	FTB	EMD	1969–1974	E540B	9/1943–12/1943
4206A–4211A	FTA	EMD	1975–1977, 1991–1993	E541A	2/1944–10/1944	Traded to EMD
4206B–4211B	FTB	EMD	1994–1999	E542B	2/1944, 10/1944
4212A–4223A	FTA	EMD	2404–2415	E600A	10/1944–11/1944	Traded to EMD
4212B–4223B	FTB	EMD	2416–2427	E601B	10/1944–11/1944
4250A–4264A	F2A	EMD	3070–3084	E649A	7/1946
4224A–4226A	F2A	EMD	3085–3087	E725A	10/1946
4224B–4226B	F2B	EMD	3088–3090	E725B	10/1946
4227A–4228A	F3A	EMD	5601–5602	E925A	10/1948	Photo: 4228 Somerville
4227B–4228B	F3B	EMD	5604–5605	E925B	10/1948
4265A–4267A	F7A	EMD	8478, 8476, 8477	E1173A	3/1949
4268A	F7A	EMD	9932	6059A	10/1949
4265B–4266B	F7B	EMD	12303–12304	6138B	7/1950
4267B–4268B	F7B	EMD	12382–12383	6154B	11/1950	4268B preserved, ARHS as CNJ D

Fairbanks-Morse, GE, Plymouth

Numbers	Model	Builder	Serial	Order	Built	Notes
1–2	P12-42	FM	17L1060–17L1061	LD	12/1957	Speed Merchant Talgo power cars
1100	Boxcab	GE/IR	11645	—	1/1935
110–113	44-ton	GE	12915–12917, 12943	—	11/1940
114–116	44-ton	GE	13092–13094	—	6/1941–7/1941
117	44-ton	GE	15036	—	8/1942
118–119	44-ton	GE	29076, 29974	—	12/1947, 6/1948
100	JL8	Plymouth	3506	—	6/1930
101	ML8	Plymouth	3963	—	3/1938

Sources

TrainWeb / emdloco. B&M order numbers: E523A/E541A/E600A FTs; E649A/E725A F2s; E925A F3s; E1173A/6059A F7s; E670A/E927A/E1172A E7s; 2008A E8A; E889 BL2s; 6149/6165/6337/5221 GP7s; 7546/7549 GP9s; 7602/7603 GP18s; 73636 GP38-2s; 776025 GP40-2s
Classic Trains. “Remembering the Boston & Maine Railroad.” 36 RS-2/RS-3s 1948–55; 4 BL2s; 23 GP7s; 109 RDCs; last commuter steam July 23, 1956; FT trade-in for 50 GP9s 1956–57
Drury, George H. Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, pp. 84–86. Steam ended 1956; 3713 ceremonial last run April 22, 1956
American-Rails.com, Boston & Maine. Boxcab 1100 and Yankee 6000, 1935; GP38-2s and GP40-2s under Dustin; Guilford June 30, 1983
American-Rails.com, Flying Yankee. EMC power car 6000
American-Rails.com, EMD BL2. B&M 1550–1553
American-Rails.com, B&M steam roster. Last everyday steam July 23, 1956